Attaching means for a soil sealer



O United States. Patent [111 5 72 Inventor David A.CIIk s11 Int.Cl Aromas/24 venideDri ,IMOkhhomn v In W RefereneesCited 2i AppLNo. 846,630 UNITED STATES PATENTS 221 Filed July 5,1969 8 2,242,486 5/1941 Sutherland 172/277 fggz r s 704,151 Feb. Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey [45] Patented Oct. 27, 1970 54 ATTACHING MEANS FOR A son. SEALER 2 Claims, 4 Drawing m [52] U.S.Cl 172/710, 172/766, 111/7 Assistant ExaminerAlan E. Kopecki Artarney-R. E. Zimmerman ABSTRACT: A new and improved means for attaching soil sealers to a support. The new and improved attaching means does not require the present practice of removing the bolts to assemble or remove the soil sealers.

Patented Oct. 27, 1970 v 3,536,145

I INVENTOR.

, DAVID A. CLARK ATTORNEY PRIOR ART A'I'IACHING MEANS FOR A SOlLSE'ALER- This is a continuation of applieation'Ser. No. 704,15 1 ,filed February 8, 1968 now abandoned;-

This invention relates to a new and improved soilsealer sembly with means improvised to quicklygandeasily attachand detach the soil sealers, such as springtine, paddel, drag,

rod and disc sealers to and from a In thepreferred.

embodiment, the support is a springshank. The springshankeis that part of the anhydrous ammonia feedinggappa ratus which prepares the ground for injection of'either anhydrous ammonia or any other suitable liquid fertilizer into thegroundsln' addition to preparing the'soil for injection of the fertilizer into the ground to obtain the maximum fenilizingbenetits; it' istimportant to 'cover'the furrows of immediately; after" the soil is'treated with the fertilizer. 'Ihis'isth'e firnction'of soil sealers, that is, to move the soil in such a mannerso as to cover the furrows made by the spring with knives attached.=

Presently, the soil sealers. are attachedto spring shanks bolts with appropriate washers and nuts. The presentpractice' is to remove the'soil sealerscompletely. bysremovingtl'ie'ay sembly nuts holding the soil sealers-to the springshank. when the apparatus is prepared for transportation; it-is-onoccasion.-

necessary to remove the soilsealers when the apparatus is being-moved from one location to another. Toremove'the soil sealers frequently is a rather tediousand time-consumingtask since the structure of the equipment used for feeding anhydrous ammonia into the ground is very wide, containing many shanks with various type's'of soil sealers attached; When shanks. Since the shanks are closely spaced, the soil-sealers in;

an assembled position strike and 'crowd each; other when stacking the equipment, so that it is sometimes impossible to properly stack the feeding mechanism without removing the soil sealers when moving the equipment from one area to another. This necessitates the removal of certain of the soil sealers from the shank assembly. The present method of removal of the soil sealers has been explained previously in this paragraph. To alleviate this problem, I have invented av new assembling means which I shall disclose for attaching the soil sealers to the shank feeding apparatus.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and quick means for attaching and removing soil sealers from a support in agricultural machinery.

Another object of my invention is to eliminate the necessity of connecting and disconnecting the bolts in the soil sealers from the support for stacking the soil sealers during transportation.

FIG. l'illustrates a new and improved paddlesealer assembly in a separated position with the mounting block shown separated from the paddle sealer assembly.

FIG. 2 illustrates the paddle sealer assembly in an operating or mounted position attached to a support behind agricultural equipment.

FIG. 3 illustrates another application of the use of a quick disconnecting means for a different type of soil sealer.

FIG. 4 illustrates the prior art showing the paddle sealers mounting plate presently being used and the bolts used for mounting the paddle sealers behind the support.

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows the paddle sealer assembly 12 in a separated position from the mounting plate 1. This figure illustrates separately the mounting plate 1 with the mounting block 2 attached in position on a "supporting spring shank 8 with the safety pin 3, also known as a klik pin, in=a closed position. Directly to the side of the mounting plate '1 and block 2 is shown the paddle sealer assembly 12 with the new and improved quick connecting means in the form of a plate 4 with an opening '6 in the form of an open-end box providing means for attaching the paddle-sealer assembly =12 to-themountingblock-ZJTIhepeddle sealers 7 themselves are rotably mountedon shaft 13,;which is welded as a of the support structure to'plate 4.:Both of tltepaddel 7 are-held imposition onshaft .13..under tension by springs.

- Springs 14 areeach mounted toward theend of shaft-13 with one end of each of-the said spiingsl4 resting on plate 4, and the other-end of the springs l4sp0sitioned around-the upper segment ofboth the paddle sealers-7. 11) easily mount the paddle sealer-asemhly lZ; the-.klihpini-FIG. lisremoved, the paddlesealer asemblyr 12.jis placed-on the block 2 so that the opening-6' shown in tbedrawing FIG; 1- on upper mounting-plate of the paddle-sealer'assembly l21slides over a mdunting bIockJEasuflicient toenable the klik pin 3 to tie-inserted. assembly is=now in-an operating position.

Reference:is madeato FIG. 2;.which-showsthe; newandjmproved paddle sealer structure: inppsition Ewith mounting plate l which is attached to asupport-such asaspringshank 8. 'Il'iemountingblbck-lisattachedto a;plate;;l-,' the: block and tbe'plate being'securedi tothe support orzspringshank with bolts, lockwasliersand nuts. Aadrilled'hole through .the end'of theblock- 2holds theklik pin asembly 31which prevents the paddle sealen asembly-u from'slidingotfythe mounting block. In preferred embodimentrthenew. and improved paddle sealer assembly. consists of; arplate @(FIG. 1!),fabricated in place to formtlie upper. form .forthe paddlesealers. Attached to theplate I, see FIG. I, at approximately a,90- angle is a protrusion 51-516; 1?);inethefonn of. asquare-opemended box shaped sleeve with ansopeningfi (-FIG. 1%). The opening providesameans tozslidethe upper mounting plateof thepaddle sealers over thesquareblock 2 into operatingposition behind the'support-gin the form ofiaspringshank 8:

Reference is mad'etoFlG 3 which showsan additional; applif cation. of the use of the quick disconnecting, means. explained'. in the preceding. paragraphs. positioning of the plate 4 in=the=upper structure of the sealer. is a matter of choice and would-not present any patentable distinction over the disclosure presented above.

By viewing FIG. 4, which illustrates the prior art, it can readily be seen that the old method of connecting soil sealers is too tedious and slow.

The prior art shown in FIG. 4 shows paddle sealers 10 containing a plate 9 with four holes for inserting bolts 11 which are secured to the shanks with washers and nuts. The improved soil sealer assembly avoids the necessity of removing the bolts when the soil sealers are detached, and this makes the removal of the soil sealers from the support easier and unique. The improvement which is disclosed affords a rapid means of attaching the soil sealers to a support in agricultural equipment. This can readily be seen by referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and comparing the new and improved means of attaching the soil sealers to the means used in the prior art as shown in FIG. 4.

Reversing the structure of the connecting means is considered within the scope of this invention. Referring to FIG. I, for instance, if the mounting 2 on the plate should be changed to be a hollow member in the form of a sleeve with a hole placed through it and the plate extending between the soil sealers should be changed to have a protnrsion with a hole through it, mounted on the outer structure of the upper plate assembly, the protrusion could be inserted into the hollow member and held in place with a key inserted through the aligned holes in the protrusion and the hollow member. This reverse structure of my invention would be considred the scope of this invention.

Various embodiments of this invention, in addition to what has been illustrated and described, can be employed without departing from the scope of the accompanyingclairm.

I claim:

'1. The new and improved attaching means for a soil sealer assembly comprising:

a. a fir st plate,'the said first platefomring-the "PW!" support structureifor the soil sealers;

b. the said soil sealers being attached to thesaid first plate;

d. mounting block welded in a perpendicular position to a second plate; and i e. the said second plate having punchedholes with U-bolts for attaching to a support.

2. The new and improved attaching means for a soil sealer assembly as claimed in claim '1 where the said mounting block has a drilled hole in the extremity of the said mounting block with-a safety pin resting in the said: drilled hole in'the said block. 

